‘One Summer’ details the coming of age journey of Julian, a 17-year-old artist who navigates multiple complex romantic relationships in a racially insensitive culture which values conformity over authenticity to one’s true feelings and identity.
‘One Summer’ details the coming of age journey of Julian, a 17-year-old artist who navigates multiple complex romantic relationships in a racially insensitive culture which values conformity over authenticity to one’s true feelings and identity.
-
Story
Mission Statement
As a Writer/Director, the stories I tell are based on my experiences dealing with family, love, and racism. Filmmaking has become an emotional journey. The need to tell these stories is immense. My students and former students have come together to help me tell my story just as I have helped them.About The Project
'One Summer' follows Julian Roberts, a mixed race Latino/White artist, and his first Summer after graduating high school. Affected by the death of his brother and his emotional bond between two girls, Julian finds himself having to make a decision between them. He finally comes to a decision, only to have his emotions turned upside down when his long-time friend, Ashley, moves away and disappears from his life after professing his love for her.
After Ashley’s departure, Julian begins a relationship with his mixed-race African American/White neighbor Sierra. When Julian learns about the loss of Sierra’s mother, when she was younger, it creates a bond between them and his early infatuation with her turns into love. This creates tension between Julian and his father.
Julian(Julius Royale Duenas Cruz) is a soft spoken romantic, artist, and musician. He falls in love easily and always lets his heart lead him. Julian lost his older brother and has always had mixed feelings about his death because of the way his brother treated him.
Ashley (Charlotte Delaney Riggs) is Julian’s longtime best friend. She likes to play wiffle ball with the boys and loves to hike in the woods. She longs for Julian to see her as more than a friend but never tells him because she’s afraid it will ruin their relationship.
Sierra (Soleil Patterson) is everything Julian has ever wanted in a romantic relationship. She grew up on a Cherokee reservation where her mixed race parents taught. They moved to the reservation to escape the racism at home. Sierra falls for Julian but pushes him toward Ashley after her and Ashley bond as friends.
One Summer is a film that I’ve felt I needed to make for a long time. Over the years, I’ve been writing and rewriting this story, sometimes putting it away for years, then inspiration came when I had a reunion with an actor I had the pleasure to work with several years earlier, Julius Cruz. I went home and started writing the story again, from scratch. After sharing it with my students and many rewrites based on their input. I believe this story is ready to become reality.
We need to pay and feed for our talented actors and provide them with wardrobe fitting the time period (1975). We also need to pay for insurance, location fees, period vehicles, and props. We are fortunate enough to have full access to all the equipment we need, so rental fees are not necessary. I am a film teacher and most of my crew are students or former students so we do not have the means to pay the expenses ourselves.
We have invested months in preparing for this, writing and rewriting this story to make the best film we are capable of. It’s with your help we will be able to bring this story to the screen.
If we raise $21,400 we can rent a truck to haul our equipmentIf we raise $22,900 we can pay for an original score
If we raise $23,900 we'll be able to cover film festival submissions and promotion
Follow our campaign on Seed & Spark and share it with your friends and relatives.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook and share our postsIncentives
$15
Thank You
Social media shout out!
$25
70's Music Poster
Ken will put your face, and whatever band or artist name you can make up, into a 70's style, psychedelic music poster and post it on our Instagram page! Plus we’ll give you a social media shout out!
$50
The Film
Same as above plus an advanced streaming link to the fully completed film.
$100
Digital Album
Everything Above plus a Digital Album of behind the scenes photos.
$250
Cast Photo
Everything Above plus a signed photo of the major cast.
$500
Wrap Party
Everything Above plus you will receive an invite to the wrap party.
$1,000
Private Screening
Everything above plus you will be invited to a private screening of the film prior to the world premiere.
$2,500
Associate Producer
Everything Above plus you will receive a digital copy of the film prior to the world premiere and Associate Producer Credits.
$5,000
Executive Producer
Everything Above plus you are an Executive Producer. You will have total access to the set, front credits, and IMDB credits.
-
Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$15
Thank You
Social media shout out!
$25
70's Music Poster
Ken will put your face, and whatever band or artist name you can make up, into a 70's style, psychedelic music poster and post it on our Instagram page! Plus we’ll give you a social media shout out!
$50
The Film
Same as above plus an advanced streaming link to the fully completed film.
$100
Digital Album
Everything Above plus a Digital Album of behind the scenes photos.
$250
Cast Photo
Everything Above plus a signed photo of the major cast.
$500
Wrap Party
Everything Above plus you will receive an invite to the wrap party.
$1,000
Private Screening
Everything above plus you will be invited to a private screening of the film prior to the world premiere.
$2,500
Associate Producer
Everything Above plus you will receive a digital copy of the film prior to the world premiere and Associate Producer Credits.
$5,000
Executive Producer
Everything Above plus you are an Executive Producer. You will have total access to the set, front credits, and IMDB credits.
- Updates
-
Current Team
About This Team
Sarah Reyes, Producer, Sarah has won two international film festivals, four national film festivals, and received a jury recognition from SXSW for her short film, "It's Getting Bad Again". "It's Getting Bad Again" details the mental health journey of a woman unconventionally and comedically navigating a depressive episode. Mental Health is a huge theme across the short films I've created. She wants to create films that focus on recovery rather than glamourizing the trauma of mental illness. She currently working on a 20-minute short film, entitled "Native Tongue" which observes the lives of three teenagers at a party and their different (yet equally complex) viewpoints on Love as influenced by their families, personalities, and past trauma. My goal with films is simple -- be honest.
Ken Rogers, Writer/Director, After nearly 30 years in film and video production, Ken took a 15 year break to teach film production to high school students. He has held various jobs in the industry including producer, director, writer, visual effects artist, and animator.
Quinn Lawrence-Sanderson, Cinematographer, Quinn often looks to the work of cinematographers such as Robert Yeoman, Jarin Blaschke, and Roger Deakins for their innovative techniques and distinct stylistic choices. He’s inspired by the way light, color, composition, and other visual aspects of a shot can tell meaningful stories and evoke strong, distinct feelings.
For the past four years, he’s specialized in shooting with the RED DSMC2 camera system. Other positions he’s held include editor, colorist, sound mixer/editor, and steadicam operator. He currently attends the University of Texas at Austin.
Elliot Rogers, Production Sound Mixer, Sound Desgner, Elliot is an artist and music producer in Austin, TX, where he also does freelance work in television and film production. His audio experience includes recording, mixing, live sound, sound design, audio cleanup & sweetening, music composition & production, and film scores.
-
Media
Videos
Images
-
Community
Supporters
Followers
